This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/scams by /u/Blunderina on 2024-06-24 13:08:51+00:00.
Hi I just wanted to share this to warn others from the UK. I’m feeling pretty dumb for falling for this looking back on it but there were also a few clever things the scammer did to gain my trust.
The scam happened over several days it started on Friday afternoon when I received a call from someone claiming to be from HSBC fraud team. Maybe this should have alarmed me but I have received unprompted calls from HSBC about possible fraud in the past.
They had a professional sounding male English accent and somehow knew my name. They said they are calling to report a possible fraudulent activity on my card and ask me whether I have made a transaction in Green King in Kent. I say no (I don’t live there). They explain my bank details have been compromised. They try to ‘find out’ how they could have been compromised by asking if I have shopped at Amazon on Temu recently and explain that they have had a security breach with card details and passwords. He then went on to arrange an appointment at my local HSBC branch for a meeting with the fraud team about how to prevent online fraud (this gained my trust because why would a scammer ask me to go into HSBC in person?)
He informs me that because of the security breach someone has access to my online banking app and they need to remove them ASAP and they say in order to do this I need to log into HSBC to confirm that my phone is the real phone so they can remove the infiltrators phone by going to a HSBC website: www.hsbc.whitelistdevice.com I ask how do I know this is not a scam website and they say that a scammer could hide the website name with hsbc within it as HSBC is a government protected domain name (this is probably a stupid lie but I fell for it.) The website looked exactly like the real HSBC login (of course) Whenever I was logging in the man would say please don’t say any passwords or account details out loud as HSBC would never ask for those over the phone. The website said the login was not working (I’m not sure if this was false or I actually couldn’t remember my password).
As the login ‘wasn’t working’ they say they are asking a colleague for an alternative method and after a short time on hold they ask me to login HSBCs website through their online banking app. I login and then receive a text from HSBC (this is a legitimate HSBC text) telling me an activation code. The person on the phone claiming to be HSBC says I need to type in the code to my app to kick out the other device and confirm my device (and keeps reminding me to not to say any codes out loud). What was in fact happening was that I was unwittingly allowing the scammers access of my device. The person on the phone says that I will receive a text saying that the device has been added but the scammer has blocked the texts from coming through until now and now HSBC has intervened I am receiving the old text of the fraudster infiltrating. Which again looking back is very dumb that I fell for this but in my head I hadn’t successfully logged in on the other website I had only logged in through my real HSBC app, received a legitimate HSBC text at the same time he had told me I would and I hadn’t given them any sensitive information. After confirming some transactions are me (e.g. ‘there was a transaction for 12.99 on 21/06/24 who was the vendor?’ He asks me to read my account balances ‘for insurance purposes so they can note my account balance now and report if there are any fraudulent transactions’). Which again I feel so dumb for believing. He asks me if I have any questions and I ask why the security breach isn’t in the news he says that HSBC is not responsible for how amazon deal with data breaches. He gives me a 4 letter case report number and says that he is dealing with my fraud case and if I call the branch I need to quote the case number.
On Saturday morning I receive a real text from HSBC about a large transaction from my account and soon after I get a call from the ‘HSBC fraud team’ again. Its the same voice before who confirms my case number and identity through name, DOB, address (which I am kicking myself for telling him). He asks if I have made this transaction obviously I say no and he says not to worry they luckily they have flagged it as a fraudulent transaction due to already knowing about the infiltrator a day before and noting my balances. He says that they will place additional security measures on my banking and ask for these details every time I call and that he has now disabled my app to prevent further transactions but he has booked me into the HSBC branch at 9am on Monday to set up my online account again and I must remember two forms of ID, which obviously looking back is a perfect way for me to not see all the internal transfers going on.
The same thing happens on Sunday morning with a text and the fake fraud team assuring me they have solved it. He told me all the transactions were made on Friday but they delayed payments to reduce fraud alerts. On Sunday evening I finally have the sense to call HSBC to double check it was them calling me (so annoyed I did not do this immediately). But the fraud line is closed. They assured me they did try and call me (which makes me kind of believe it still). And then this morning I called again and they told me it had all been a scam. I think the thing that made me believe it the most was him constantly telling me not to say passwords out loud, asking for the same details HSBC would to confirm my identity (the real HSBC asked for full name, DOB and address) and the fact he told me to go to the real HSBC on Monday morning so he knew the gig would be up and I would report on him by then.
Feeling like an idiot looking back but putting this out there because it was pretty elaborate and I don’t want anyone else to fall for it. Always call your bank back if they ever call you!
TLDR: I was called by someone pretending to be from HSBC fraud team they got access to my account through asking me to login on a faked HSBC website and confirmation code on my phone, every time HSBC warned me money was leaving my account the fake fraud team would call me to tell me its all under control. The fact they told me to visit my HSBC branch on Monday morning gained my trust. Always call your bank back.